Forever(?) lost coins

[nur rochid]

My point was that if "they" mount an attack, I think they're unlikely to do something subtle like try to mess with the block chain.

If "they" want to mess with the network, it would be far easier to do something like what China's doing with its Great Wall-- forcing connections they don't like to be dropped.  Or what botnets do now:  mount a denial-of-service attack by flooding the network.

Much more likely:  "they" will catch you for tax evasion when you convert your bitcoins to your local fiat currency and buy that fancy sports car you've always wanted.

To be fair, it really does depend on the company you are buying your 'fancy' car from. Lamborghini being one car dealership that accepts Bitcoin directly; we are all familiar with the phrase 'when Lambo'. Also, if buying in fiat currency, the minute your transfer goes through the bank, "they" can directly trace the money afterward. So when converting to any fiat, you are beholden to the laws of the country whose currency you are converting to.

i think although we transaction to buy lambo by using bitcoin is not free of taxes, but for a letter of ownership will certainly be a question about your income so far to buy lambo, and finally the government can track it as well

[ss890]

There are two things regarding this matter. When we say that coins are lost then its not the coin actually but access to the coins is lost. that could happen as result of lost private keys, passwords etc. The other thing is, if they are locked away like that then it doesn't mean that they are gone forever. They still stay in the wallet and are reasonably will stay their as its impossible to hack any crypto currency wallet.

When coin is mined then it goes into the block of chain and it stays there forever. So nothing is lost really. However depending upon the number of coins it can affect the price movement.

[Lucius]

There are two things regarding this matter. When we say that coins are lost then its not the coin actually but access to the coins is lost. that could happen as result of lost private keys, passwords etc. The other thing is, if they are locked away like that then it doesn't mean that they are gone forever. They still stay in the wallet and are reasonably will stay their as its impossible to hack any crypto currency wallet.

When coin is mined then it goes into the block of chain and it stays there forever. So nothing is lost really. However depending upon the number of coins it can affect the price movement.

This is true, coins are not lost completely, but only access to them is prevented at a given moment. If user lost password of his wallet and there is no way to crack it in any way, this does not mean that it will not be possible in the future. Therefore, you do not have to lose hope in such cases, save your wallet data in safe place, maybe one day someone manages to break the password and gets a nice surprise.

In case you lose a private key or wallet is completely wiped out, then coins will be maybe forever lost on blockchain - maybe some day there will be method to somehow "rescue" such coins, but this in now only science fiction.

[Formonn]

My point was that if "they" mount an attack, I think they're unlikely to do something subtle like try to mess with the block chain.

If "they" want to mess with the network, it would be far easier to do something like what China's doing with its Great Wall-- forcing connections they don't like to be dropped.  Or what botnets do now:  mount a denial-of-service attack by flooding the network.

Much more likely:  "they" will catch you for tax evasion when you convert your bitcoins to your local fiat currency and buy that fancy sports car you've always wanted.

To be fair, it really does depend on the company you are buying your 'fancy' car from. Lamborghini being one car dealership that accepts Bitcoin directly; we are all familiar with the phrase 'when Lambo'. Also, if buying in fiat currency, the minute your transfer goes through the bank, "they" can directly trace the money afterward. So when converting to any fiat, you are beholden to the laws of the country whose currency you are converting to.

i think although we transaction to buy lambo by using bitcoin is not free of taxes, but for a letter of ownership will certainly be a question about your income so far to buy lambo, and finally the government can track it as well

That goes without saying, as the government would want to know who the unidentified person is, who is suddenly buying a Lamborghini straight up.

[squog]

I think those "lost coins" are lost forever and not regenerated for everyone to have. It's like if i don't touch my holding, will i have to worry about the system getting it from me? I don't think so. So the lesson is, never lose your passwords and keys into your wallets. Have analog back ups for your passwords and codes and stuff to get in.

[YzzyGo]

For lost coins, like when they lose their wallet.dat or private key and forgot where they stored their BTC, then nothing we can do about it. I had the same idea as you wherein untouched coins for a period of time are handled by the system but it will be unfair for those who just want to HODL long and also I don't think BTC is built that way. If just forgotten password, I believe there are third party services for retrieval using bruteforce method.

[ArteMixer]

It may be healthy for the whole system if you think. If there are fewer coins, the price goes up, compensating the loss.

[Stephen1989]

It's really not so bad for the system--just unfortunate for the user who lost his bitcoins.
The value that those bitcoins held is never really lost.  Rather, it's essentially redistributed out to every other bitcoin still in use (deflation).
Even if we lost 90% of BC and only had 2.1 million, with the eight (i think) decimal places possible, it would still be perfectly practical to use.

[Rossy Akbar]

That was the thing that you need to protect all of your item even your wallet safely, cause no one will get responsible for it. Once you lost your coins doesn't matter how much is it you wont get it back. That's what makes bitcoin was so risky, so be intelligent to face the challenge.

[Damn3d]

I heard tons of that like stories, when people figured out the recent price and look for their old wallets, but forgot the passwords etc.

[bowals]

In simple terms, the coins would only be lost to the owners. The system would assume the coin is in circulation!

[bakekang]

No one could retrieve if there is lost coins unless the owner is still alive and know the password or the private keys of his accounts and wallets. If the owner dies and the coins will lost forever and no one will benefit on it.

[ylnar123]

No one could retrieve if there is lost coins unless the owner is still alive and know the password or the private keys of his accounts and wallets. If the owner dies and the coins will lost forever and no one will benefit on it.

That's right, lost coins is lost forever unless the owner will retrieve it. But when he lost his account's password or private keys then that should do it, it will be lost totally.

[marilyngroom]

If you lose your coins they are lost forever. How that will affect the coin decades to come, who knows. That's why I like the idea of some inflation in the coins. Where new coins are generated and can be mined, per year. Because some people will lose their coin. Just look at Bitcoin.

[darkangelosme]

Yeah it's gone forever dude, cryptocurrencies system is not like a banking system that what ever bad will happen to your bank account you can always prove to them that you are the owner of that bank account by showing them all the proof they want.
In cryptocurrencies system no one will hear you about your proofs.

[gambitcoin53]

most of the time, it is human error, once you lost your password or account details, then it is already a lost on your part but not with the system, your lost coins will remain in the system that leads to deflation, those amounts will add up on the current market cap and stays there, no one can get it just like in banks, it will just float in the systems and will only used for dormant funds.

[lebrone08]

Hi all,
i'm pretty new to bitcoin but already using it and also experimenting with new ideas/code. Great concept!

Anyway i wonder what happens with lost coins?
Like when some people with many coins lose their wallet file.
Are they lost forever, and worst for the whole system? Since the generation of the coins are limited as i have read, are those lost coins regenerated at some point too?

So when many people lose their files, maybe through a terrible bug.. well go figure.

Can somebody please explain what would happen and if there are already methods to prevent or something(except backing up, but it's not always possible, e.g. a bad government takes your computer..).
Ok, in RL life, when you lose money it's also forever lost(when noone finds it). But since in BC it's a limited generation of new coins it looks different i think, or am i missing something?
Maybe one solution would be that the network will also forget about those coins when the original node/node with that wallet/ID haven't connected for a very very long time(maybe ~40, ~100 years? on the other hand it might be bad for descent to your child who will knew about your "wallet file" very late etc.) and let's the network regenerate those coins.

Well, i'm not really sure how this is working yet, but just thought about this. Maybe someone can explain/think about this who has more knowledge of bitcoin/it's economics.

Thank you.

Bitcoin is controlled by anonymous people, it means it you make an error you cannot retrieved it anymore. In order to avoid those error or incident, first always double check all the info before you click specially if your going to use your wallet address. Back files is not enough as much as possible make at least 3-5 back up files so that you have a lot of sources when you need it, and the most important is never share your private keys and email to a person that you don't know.

[ishinn99]

It may be healthy for the whole system if you think. If there are fewer coins, the price goes up, compensating the loss.

Yes, the price will continue to rise if fewer coins will be left, but it's so sad knowing those lost coins will give owners wealth but can't really recover whatever ways they tried. Anyway, moving forward I just hoping for a greater price as time passes by.

[okissabam]

Yes I think once you lost your coins you’ll lose evrything as well. No one has created something that can return back or at least give you a hint on how to get it all back once you lose the file or something. So the best thing you should do to prevent it from happening is to keep it somewhere you know it would be safe to prevent from hackers and just like me I do it old school style so I write everything on a small notebook and keep it somewhere I am the only one who knows where it is.

[pantheraio]

This is really an interesting thought, I also once asked what happens with a wasted coin (stored in the wallet, and we forget his password). I think the coin will stay there forever, as long as no one can access it then the coin will remain there I think.